More Billion Dollar Agriculture Mergers

With a downward trending farm economy, agriculture consolidation is becoming more common. This week, two mergers worth billions are moving forward.

The Canadian fertilizer companies Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Incorporated and Agrium Incorporated announced a merger worth $36 billion U.S.

Potash and Agrium together are the third largest natural resource company in Canada and have many operations in the U.S. including a couple dozen in Iowa.

They operate in 18 countries and have nearly 20,000 employees.

Potash shareholders will get 52 percent, with combined leadership from both companies. They expect to close in the middle of 2017.

And Bayer finally clinched an agreement to buy out Monsanto, for $66 billion dollars. That's $128 per share in an all cash transaction.

Both boards unanimously approved the agreement. In a release, they claim value creation of $1.5 billion after three years.

Bayer CEO Werner Baumann says the merger benefits agriculture, "What we do is good for consumers. We help to produce efficient, safe, healthy, and affordable food. It is also good for our growers, because they have better choices to increase yields in a sustainable way. Shareholders from both companies benefit from this transaction, because this is about value creation and growth."

Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant says this is an exciting time for the future, "Together with Bayer, we're going to be able to offer growers even better solutions faster. This combination will deliver just that, an innovation engine that pairs Bayer's crop protection portfolio with our world class seeds and traits."

Some critics of the recent mergers in the agriculture community claim having fewer companies limits farmer choice.